09.06.08

Kids Allowance: 8 Tips On Paying For Chores

Posted in Kids and Money at 11:25 pm by CreditMom

I’m learning about children and allowance as I go.  There are a lot of people that pay money for chores for children, others require their children work outside the home to earn money and another parenting style is to provide allowance for no return in responsibilities at all.  I don’t pass judgment on any one because I believe what works for one family may not work for another.  We have chosen the allowance tied to chores approach and through some bumps and bruises it seems to be working.  Here are my tips if you decide to go this route. 

1. Identify chores with clear deliverables.  Chores should not consist of making beds and cleaning up after themselves.  Chores are responsibilities above and beyond the day to day such as laundry, picking up after the dog, taking out the trash, cleaning up the kitchen.
2. Have your child “own” their chores. With 3 kids we like to avoid as much conflict as possible.  Therefore it’s one person to a chore and that chore is consistent from week to week.  They each might have more than one chore but there’s no sharing.  At some point they may want to rotate, but as my husband says, “let’s leave well enough alone.”
3. Set a regular payment schedule.  Our kids get paid every Sunday.  This forces them to budget their money for the week so they have something left for next weekend.  Make sure you pay the promised amount and you pay on time.  Responsibility works both ways.
4. Teach them to budget their expenses. Our children put aside money for savings and spending (bus fare, lunch, ice cream, snacks, etc.). Our 14 year old enjoys going out on the weekend and parses out his money into 3 envelopes labeled, “Savings”, “Spending”, “Weekend”. This has been working well and gives him ownership of his finances.  In fact, this week, the ice cream truck stopped at our house and instinctively my kids ran outside expecting me to give them money.  They looked at me, I looked back at them and they said, “oh right, our allowance.”  Let’s just say 2 ran back for their wallets and the 14 year old decided he wasn’t really in the mood for ice cream after all.  Priorities are very interesting when it comes from their own wallets.
5. If they don’t do their chores, don’t pay them. This is pretty simple but some think I’m nuts.  Bottom line is do your chores and you get paid.  You don’t do your chores and you don’t get paid.  Learning involves consequences. My kids all learned by having their allowance deducted for chores not done.  There was one situation when twin A did twin B’s chores.  Well….twin A received twin B’s allowance and twin B got nothing.  Now twin B is working his little butt off.  Develop good habits now and they will be good employees later.
6. Open up bank accounts.  Take them to the bank to make deposits.  My kids love watching their savings grow.  This week each of them took their piggy banks to Commerce Bank and cashed in all of their coins.  Between all 3 they saved  up over $200.  I allowed them to spend $10 each and the rest went back into savings.  This is one of the best lessons in showing kids how saving even as little as pennies a day adds up.
7. Don’t leave home without it! It took a while but they finally know they must always carry a wallet.  We do wallet checks before we leave the house.  They’re finally figuring it out. 
8. Be flexible.  Don’t forget they’re kids and learn best when having fun and taking ownership.  So be flexible, if your child absolutely despises taking out the trash give him something else to do…it’s just not worth it…don’t lose site of the overall message you want to achieve.  There are so many ways a child can help out…we have one son that likes to clean up the dog poop! 

Like I said, this approach seems to be working for us right now, but we’re certainly open to suggestions and hearing about your ideas for teaching your children about financial responsibility.

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